The invention relates to controlling data transmissions from a computer.
Personal computers are being used in an ever-increasing number of applications. For example, a consumer may use the computer to shop over the Internet. In a typical Internet shopping transaction, the consumer may select one or more items from an online catalog. To pay for the selected items, the consumer may use the computer to transmit personal information (a credit card number, for example) to a server that maintains the online catalog.
The computer typical executes an Internet browser application program (Microsoft(copyright) Internet Explorer(copyright) or Netscape(copyright) Navigator(copyright), as examples) to communicate with servers of the Internet. However, the browser application program may use an unsecure protocol (a hypertext transmission protocol (http), for example) when communicating with the servers, and as a result, an unauthorized party may be able to intercept personal information that is transmitted using the unsecure protocol. To prevent this from occurring, the browser application program may use a secure protocol, such as the protocol used by a secure sockets layer (SSL). When the browser application program uses a secure protocol, the letters xe2x80x9chttpsxe2x80x9d (instead of the letters xe2x80x9chttpxe2x80x9d) appear in the universal resource locator (URL), or Internet address, that is displayed by the browser application program.
The consumer may choose not to use the computer to transmit personal information when the computer is using an unsecure protocol. However, the user may not know which type of protocol is being used by the computer and thus, may unintentionally use the computer to transmit the personal information. Unintentional transmission of the personal information may also occur, for example, when an unauthorized user (a child of the consumer, for example) has access to both the personal information and the computer.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a computer system that minimizes unintended transmissions of personal information.
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a stream of data in a computer for transmission from the computer. A determination is made whether a portion of the stream of data indicates personal information. Based on the determination, action is automatically taken to control transmission of the portion of the stream.
In another embodiment, a computer system includes an input device, an output device and a processor. The input device generates a stream of data. The processor determines whether a portion of the stream of data indicates personal information and based on the determination, takes action to control transmission of the portion of the stream by the output device.